


and explosions, and june

by GalaxyOwl



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 20:39:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13689405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyOwl/pseuds/GalaxyOwl
Summary: Three times Jacqui danced with Jillian (and one time she didn’t).





	and explosions, and june

**Author's Note:**

> for 15 days of FatT day 1: dance

1.

There’s this dance, on Archonic. Some high-society thing with a bunch of big executives, leaders of Horizon’s competitors. Jacqui barely remembers any of their names, but that isn’t the important part. It’s a job.

A simple enough one, too: get in, set the charges, get out. Try to minimize extraneous casualties if they can.

Getting in is simple enough: a back entrance and a few well-placed credits, outfits nice enough for them to slip through the ballroom without attracting attention. Jacqui’s already started pushing her way through the crowd when she feels Jillian’s hand on her arm, holding her back.

“We’ve got time,” Jill says. “No need to attract so much attention.” She’s right, of course. With their objective so close at hand, it’s hard not to want to just get there. But attempting to make a beeline across a room full of people who are moving only in careful, quiet steps has already drawn more than a few eyes. And normally Jacqui wouldn’t mind that, but…

Jill releases her grip on Jacqui’s arm, and offers her her hand. 

Jacqui looks at it a moment. It was only—what, a year ago?—that she and Jillian were introduced, were given their silly matching names and told to make a go of it. The two of them were engineered to be a pair, working in perfect concert. And they do, don’t they? Aren’t they good at it? They’ve never failed a mission yet, and when they succeed they succeed with style. 

Jill can still surprise her, though. Jacqui takes her hand.

The music is simple, and soft, and Jacqui finds she knows every step of this dance despite having no memory of learning it; she and Jillian move as one, in concert. Jillian’s eyes meet Jaqui’s, her expression thoughtful, her hair an elegant, blood-red tangle against the black of her suit. She smiles softly as she takes another step forward, in time to the music, and then she and Jacqui are close, so close, together, touching.

“This—“ Jacqui says, and is interrupted by the sound of gunfire. She looks past Jill, sees the man with the weapon. He’s not aiming at them, but he’s going to cause problems for them either way.

She looks to Jill, who gives a small nod, and then the two of the drop hands and in an instant, their own weapons are out—

And they fight, and they win, of course, and in battle, she and Jillian move as one, in concert.

 

2.

Jacqui holds Jill’s hand as they move through the crowd together, the sounds of a hundred conversations around them, vendors shouting, music playing somewhere in the distance. Calliope, in June.

Jacqui died yesterday. She and Jill both, their getaway ship blown up in orbit in a move that they _should_ have seen coming.

It wasn’t the first time Jacqui died, she knows that much, although still the older memories are hazy, like a dream, or sometimes out of reach entirely, slipping from her grasp like so much fog. But it will all come back. Normalcy will reassert itself. It always has in the past.

A day off will help.

She and Jill eat shitty street food and wander the city, all bright colors and neon lights, and talk about everything except that last mission. The sky overhead darkens from pale to blue-black, and a few stars of distant planets—Jacqui wonders how many of them she and Jillian have been to—join the electric city lights in their glittering display.

There’s a sound, like a distant rocket launching, and fireworks join the other lights, exploding into color overhead. Jill gasps aloud, then meets eyes with Jacqui and laughs.

Somewhere, a band is still playing, nearer now, and Jacqui says, “Let’s find it.”

They do. 

The music is fast, and loud, a wild chorus of sounds electronic and physical both. Jacqui takes Jillian’s hand and spins her around, and Jacqui’s partner laughs as she dances, each step perfect, each movement in sync with hers. Fireworks burst above them, gold and green and red, and Jill pulls Jacqui’s head down close and kisses her.

 

3.

“You look great,” Jill says as Jacqui steps towards her. Her tone sounds less like she believes it and more like she feels like it’s the thing to say, but maybe that’s just Jacqui’s imagination. Probably it is.

“Thanks,” Jacqui says, “you too.”

Jillian smiles, and Jacqui’s heart squeezes tight with the weight of four years of mourning. It’s still the same smile.

“Should we head in?” 

Jacqui agrees. She takes Jill’s hand and, together, the two of them enter the dance. 

It’s an event, Jacqui knows, that’s less about dancing and more about politics and power, but that doesn’t make Jill’s closeness any less real as they move across the floor, as Jill pulls her near enough for them to begin to dance.

Jill asks, picking each word carefully, about the Vanguard. Jacqui says little. Jill knows about her and Aria already; Jacqui had told her that first time they’d spoken. But it’s strange to talk about these topics with her; in some part of Jacqui’s mind, Jill is from a different time period, a different space, incompatible with words like _Righteousness_ and _Rigor_. 

Jacqui changes the subject, and the two of them move in time to the music, and talk about everything and nothing at the same time. It’s easy, and Jacqui finds herself smiling, even as across the room, Aria enters, Ibex beside her. She finds herself laughing, even as Aria’s gaze lands on her, and stays there, a long while. Even now, what’s more important is Jillian, in front of her, her expression thoughtful, her hair an elegant, blood-red tangle against the black of her suit. 

Jacqui can almost imagine it’s the good old days again, even if they were never really that good: her and Jill against the world. And then she says something, references some story, and Jill laughs along but it’s clear she doesn’t really get the joke.

They dance, Jacqui Green and Jillian Red, the perfect pair. But every now and then Jill’s feet move just a pace or two behind Jacqui’s; every now and then, Jacqui changes the steps without meaning to. Never quite in sync.

 

1.

Jacqui hasn’t been to many weddings before. 

Not out of any particular dislike of the event; it’s just that she’s never had reason to attend. So she’d been a little nervous, when she and Aria had started discussing if they wanted to have any kind of ceremony. But she likes what they’d settled on. Just enough people to feel like a celebration, but not so many they got lost in the crowd. (How Jacqui thought she would ever lose sight of Aria in that dress, she has no idea.) They invited a handful of old friends, including what’s left of the Chime, and newer ones, too.

After the ceremony itself is over, and it’s all official, and Jacqui is standing there looking at her _wife_ —her wife, pop star Aria Joie, revolutionary Aria Joie, love of her life Aria Joie—Aria holds out a hand and says, “Can I have this dance?”

Jacqui laughs, and takes her hand, and doesn’t let go for the rest of the night. 

The music playing over the speakers is light and upbeat, and the two of them move together with a shared rhythm. 

At one point, the music, on shuffle, switches over to a bright pop piece, and it’s only seconds in before people collectively realize the irony: it’s an Aria Joie song. Someone shouts to change it, Aria doesn’t need to listen to the shit EarthHome made using her voice—

“No,” Aria says, a smile pulling at the edge of her lip, “leave it.”

The lyrics continue, and Jacqui realizes that she recognizes this song. It’s not an EarthHome piece at all.

It’s one that was written, years and years ago now, on the long journey from Counterweight to September. She knows all the words by heart.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] and explosions, and june](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14814464) by [growlery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/growlery/pseuds/growlery)




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